Retractable hand covering

ABSTRACT

A retractable and wearable hand cover is disclosed. The hand cover is worn while handing objects and surfaces that are suspected of being contaminated. To encourage the hand cover&#39;s use and to avoid unintentional contact with the hand cover&#39;s potentially contaminated outer surface, the hand cover is biased towards an open configuration to enable easy one-handed donning and removal. The hand cover is coupled to a tether retractably wound on a spring biased reel assembly that is clipped to a piece of clothing preferably on or near the waistband area. This facilitates very targeted and temporary yet repetitious use when interacting with objects and various surfaces, as opposed to a disposable glove that is designed to fit tightly around the hand and is usually worn for extended periods of time because it must be immediately thrown away upon removal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/992,789 filed on Mar. 20, 2020 and entitled“Retractable Hand Covering,” which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a hand cover, such as a looseglove, mitten, bag, or protective sleeve, that is retractable, and moreparticularly to a wearable assembly having a retractable hand covercoupled thereto.

2. Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has by many accounts been the greatest publichealth emergency worldwide in 100 years, and has made many aware of theadvantages of protecting against contagion. Frequent hand washing hasbeen encouraged by the CDC and WHO because after touching a contaminatedsurface, one might touch one's face (eyes, nose, mouth) with acontaminated hand. This has implications post-pandemic: illnesses likethe common cold and influenza variants can also be transmitted bytouching high-traffic surfaces such as door and subway handles, gaspumps, and elevator buttons. A future pandemic could easily be even moretransmissible via surfaces, and society has become more aware ofprotecting itself from contagion such as the flu and common colds.

Standard tight-fitting disposable gloves are usually only of marginalbenefit in preventing the spread of contagions, and may even increaseone's risk of contraction if worn too long or under the wrongcircumstances. Such disposable gloves are designed to be worn for oneactivity and then disposed of, meaning someone is unlikely to only weardisposable gloves to, say, press an elevator button or grab a doorhandle. Instead, the wearer will likely keep the disposable gloves onfor much longer than otherwise necessary, and because of such excessiveand prolonged use, be more likely to accidentally touch his or her facewith what may be contaminated glove surfaces. Furthermore, standarddisposable gloves require both hands to put on and remove, beingimpractical to do so quickly during daily life activities, andincreasing the risk of skin contact with the outer surface of the glove.

Therefore, several problems in the art for protecting against COVID-19and other transmissible viral and bacterial diseases can be addressed.For example, to better reduce the risk of contracting communicablediseases while in public, a disposable hand covering that can be slippedon and off with ease would be preferable to a disposable glove that isdesigned to fit tightly around the hand and be thrown away upon removal.Further, a disposable hand covering that can retract back to aconvenient standby location that is out of the way on the user's bodywhen removed and not in use would encourage very targeted and temporaryyet repetitious use when interacting with objects and various surfaces,reducing the likelihood that the wearer will inadvertently touch his orher face with the hand covering. Also, a hand covering that is easy toslip on and off with one hand because it is slightly open when retractedback to a user's body would further encourage its use and minimize therisk of the wearer unintentionally touching the hand covering'spotentially contaminated outer surface. This would aid in maintaininguncontaminated hands during periodic brief interactions withhigh-traffic surfaces during daily life.

OBJECTIVES AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a retractable and wearable hand cover,such as a glove, mitten, bag, or protective sleeve, with at least thefollowing objectives for certain embodiments thereto:

To facilitate ease of handling and touching object surfaces multipletimes and without subjecting the wearer to direct skin contact with suchsurfaces;

To enable the wearable hand cover to hang close to a person's body andpreferably the waist area when not in use such that the person mayquickly and easily put on the wearable hand cover before touchingcertain object surfaces, including surfaces that are suspected of havingbacterial or viral particles on them;

For the wearable hand cover to be extendable from a retracted stateafter a person puts it on and while the person is freely using it;

For the wearable hand cover to retract back and hang close to a person'sbody and preferably the waist area after the person takes it off;

To enable a person's selective, transient, and repetitive use of thewearable hand cover such that the person is encouraged to minimize thetotal amount of time the wearable hand cover is worn throughout the day;

To minimize the spread of bacterial or viral particles that may be oncertain object surfaces by enabling selective, transient, and repetitiveuse of the wearable hand cover;

To retractably store the wearable hand cover outside a person's clothingpockets and other clothing areas to curb handling of the wearable handcover when taken off and not in use; and

To enable a cost-efficient manufacture of the wearable hand cover topromote its use on a larger societal scale.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a wearable hand coverassembly comprises a wearable hand cover that is coupled at or near itsopened end to a tether such as a flexible cord or string. The tether is,at its opposite end, secured to a spring-loaded reel assembly that maycomprise a casing with a clip affixed to one side that enables secureattachment to a person's waistband, belt, bag, outerwear, or clothingloops, for example. The tether is of sufficient length to enable aperson to put on the wearable hand cover and extend it from itsretracted state within the spring-loaded reel assembly while freelyinteracting with extraneous objects. After the wearable hand cover istaken off and released, the tether is biased towards a retracted spooledposition within the spring-loaded reel assembly such that the wearablehand cover returns to its hanging storage state that is preferably closeto or adjoining the person's waist and attached casing.

In one embodiment of the wearable hand cover, the opened end of thewearable hand cover is biased towards a partially opened configurationto enable a person to quickly and easily slide a hand into it withoutcoming into direct skin contact with outer hand cover surfaces.

In another embodiment of the wearable hand cover, the front or palm areaof the wearable hand cover may be coated or otherwise sprayed with anantibacterial and/or antiviral formula to impede contamination spreadfrom contacting certain object surfaces.

Various other objects, advantages, features, and characteristics of thepresent invention, as well as the methods of operation and functions ofrelated structural elements, and the combination of parts and economiesof development and manufacture, will become readily apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art upon consideration of the detailed descriptionbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form apart of this specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the present invention can be obtained byreference to embodiments set forth in the illustrations of theaccompanying drawings. The drawings are not intended to limit the scopeof this invention, but merely to clarify and exemplify the invention.Accordingly, a more complete appreciation of the present invention andmany of the attendant aspects thereof may be readily obtained as thesame becomes better understood by reference to the following detaileddescription when considered in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, where:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a wearable hand coverassembly in accordance with various aspects of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the wearable hand cover assembly embodiment ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of how a person may wear and interact withthe wearable hand cover assembly embodiment of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specificterminology so selected, and it is to be understood that each specificelement includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similarmanner. Specific embodiments that may be practiced are shown by way ofillustration and explanation. The embodiments are described insufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice theembodiments, and it is to be understood that logical, mechanical, andother changes may be made without departing from the scope of theembodiments. The following detailed description is therefore not to betaken in a limiting sense. In describing exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology isemployed for sake of clarity.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of wearable hand cover assembly 100includes wearable hand cover 101. Wearable hand cover 101 may be, forexample, a loose glove, mitten, protective sleeve, or a plastic bag suchas that illustrated in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1. If not in theshape of a glove with five finger stalls, wearable hand cover 101 may besquare, rectangular, rounded, or mitt-shaped with a thumb stall to allowextra gripping motion for the thumb while fitting loosely enough foreasy passage of the hand in and out. Wearable hand cover 101 may also bemade of a fluid impermeable material such as latex, rubber, vinyl, orplastic.

Wearable hand cover 101 cannot be a tight-fitting or form-fitting glovesuch as those typically worn for normal day-to-day glove use, includingwithout limitation common disposable gloves. Such a form-fitting glovewould not enable a user to slip his or her hand into the glove withoutnecessarily extending the tether while attempting to put it on. As such,the user's other hand would likely be required to hold the form fittingglove in place, and in a manner contrary to certain objectives of theinvention, including to enable selective, transient, and repetitive usewithout touching any outer surface of the hand covering.

Wearable hand cover 101 is coupled to a spring-loaded reel assembly 106via a tether 105 and a fastener 104. Tether 105 may comprise, forexample, a flexible cord or string.

Spring-loaded reel assembly 106 comprises a spring-loaded reel that isrotatably mounted in a circular (or other shaped) casing (spring-loadedreel not shown). Tether 105 is coupled to the spring-loaded reel suchthat spring tension enables the reel to automatically self-retract andwind the tether 105 towards a retracted spooled position within thecircular casing. The circumference of the circular casing and the lengthof the tether 105 may dictate how close to the circular casing thecoupled wearable hand cover 101 will hang when not in use. In apreferred embodiment, fastener 104 will abut the circular casing of thespring-loaded reel assembly 106 when the wearable hand cover 101 is notbeing worn. Spring-loaded reel assembly 106 may also be operativelysimilar to any of those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,875 entitled“Retraction Reel for Keys and the Like,” or U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,237entitled “Retractable Badgeholder with Spinning Display.” U.S. Pat. Nos.6,073,875 and 6,364,237 are incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

Fastener 104 may be any suitable fastener for attachment to the wearablehand cover 101, including for example a plastic strip with a snapcomponent as illustrated in FIG. 1. The plastic strip in the illustratedembodiment is inserted through a corresponding aperture near the top ofthe wearable hand cover 101 and snapped closed to form a loop forpurposes of coupling the wearable hand cover 101 to tether 105. Forillustrative purposes, FIG. 1 shows the plastic strip of fastener 104unsnapped, whereas FIG. 3 shows the plastic strip of fastener 104 in asnapped configuration during use. Alternatively, fastener 104 maycomprise corresponding hook and loop fastener surfaces such as Velcroinstead of a snap component to securely form a loop for purposes ofcoupling wearable hand cover 101 to tether 105. Fastener 104 may alsocomprise a snap hook, including without limitation a snap hookoperatively similar to those described in U.S. Pat. No. 940,738 entitled“Swivel Snap Hook” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,137 entitled “UniversalSwivel Snap Hook Assembly.” Fastener 104 may also comprise a slide-boltsnap, including without limitation a slide-bolt snap operatively similarto those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,190 entitled “Safety Coupler.”U.S. Pat. Nos. 940,738; 5,127,137; and 6,286,190 are incorporated hereinby reference in their entireties.

In a preferred embodiment, wearable hand cover 101 is biased towards apartially open configuration to enable persons to slide a hand quicklyand easily into and out of it without coming into direct skin contactwith outer surfaces of the wearable hand cover 101, which may becomecontaminated during intended use. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, thewearable hand cover 101 may be constructed with a first side edge 108and a second side edge 109. Grommet means 103 may reinforce an openingnear the top of wearable hand cover 101 such that the opening ofwearable hand cover 101 is biased towards a partially open configurationand resists what may otherwise be a tendency to close or flatten.

Although the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 is of a plastic bag,first side edge 108 and second side edge 109 may be a characteristic ofother examples of wearable hand cover 101, including without limitationa loose glove, mitten, or protective sleeve. Typically, but not always,the first side edge 108 and second side edge 109 is formed by eitherfolding or heat sealing opposite sides of wearable hand cover 101. This,in turn, facilitates a naturally closed and substantially flatconfiguration for wearable hand cover 101. However, other embodiments ofwearable hand cover 101 may be constructed such that there are no sideedges like those depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Grommet means 103 may, for example and as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2,comprise a strip of material that wraps around a top edge section ofwearable hand cover 101 such that it is affixed to both an outer surfacearea of wearable hand cover 101 and a substantially correspondinginterior surface area of wearable hand cover 101. The strip of materialshould be of sufficient stiffness such that the strip of materialoverlaps and flattens an area overlapping first side edge 108 thuspreventing opposite sides of wearable hand cover 101 from comingtogether in a closed and substantially flattened state.

Grommet means 103 may also comprise a grommet, eyelet, or other apertureor slot of sufficient dimensions for fastener 104 to pass through asillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The grommet, eyelet, or other aperture orslot extends through the strip of material portion of grommet means 103and cuff portion 102 as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2. The grommet means 103strip of material is of sufficient stiffness and/or elasticity that, bylargely maintaining its original shape when wrapped around a top edgesection of wearable hand cover 101 such that it is affixed to both anouter surface area of wearable hand cover 101 and a substantiallycorresponding interior surface area of wearable hand cover 101, itprevents the open end of wearable hand cover 101 from closing absentapplication of external force.

In alternative embodiments, cuff portion 102 is of sufficient stiffnessand shape that grommet means 103 is not required to bias wearable handcover 101 towards a partially open configuration. In such alternativeembodiments, grommet means 103 may be replaced by a grommet, eyelet, orother aperture or slot without any additional strip of material thatwould otherwise be necessary to overlap and flatten an area overlappingfirst edge 108. Further, other extraneous components such as (i) a smallplastic tube affixed to or otherwise contained within cuff portion 102,or (ii) a plastic clip attached near the opening of wearable hand cover101, may also be incorporated in addition to or instead of grommet means103. Such a plastic clip may be slightly curved or straight and mayoverlap with first edge 108 and be accompanied by a corresponding secondplastic clip attached to and overlapping with second edge 109 to helpprevent opposite sides of wearable hand cover 101 from coming togetherin a closed and substantially flattened state.

Referring to FIG. 2, the circular casing of spring-loaded reel assembly106 has a plastic or metal clip attachment 107 that may attach thespring-loaded reel assembly 106 to a person's belt or pants waistband orother suitable clothing area. Alternatively, other suitable attachmentmeans may be utilized, including a pin attachment for pinning thespring-loaded reel assembly 106 to a person's clothing.

Still referring to FIG. 2, grommet means 103 may be substantiallycentered over first edge 108. This edge or crease may be akin to thatcommonly found on a plastic bag as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, or anyother alternative wearable hand cover 101. Such a placement of grommetmeans 103 further helps bias wearable hand cover 101 towards a partiallyopen configuration as explained above.

Referring to FIG. 3, an application of wearable hand cover assembly 100is illustrated. A person with clip attachment 107 clipped to a pantswaistband puts wearable hand cover 101 on. The person is able to putwearable hand cover 101 on with only one hand because it is biasedtowards a partially open configuration and loose enough to facilitateeasy donning and removal. Wearable hand cover 101 remains coupled tospring-loaded reel assembly 106, which causes tether 105 to remainbiased towards a retracted spooled position while wearable hand coverassembly 100 is being used. By remaining biased towards a retractedspooled position, tether 105 keeps wearable hand cover 101 over aperson's hand during use even though wearable hand cover 101 is designedto be loose fitting to facilitate ease of donning and removing wearablehand cover 101 with only one hand and without touching any outer surfaceof wearable hand cover 101. A person can extend tether 105 whileinteracting with other objects, such as an elevator button or a doorhandle through wearable hand cover 101, and when done the person caneasily remove wearable hand cover 101 after returning it nearby itsoriginal retracted spooled position which preferably abuts spring-loadedreel assembly 106. Further, a front or palm area of the wearable handcover 101 may be coated or otherwise sprayed with an antibacterial,antiviral formula to impede contamination spread from contacting certainobject surfaces. Wearable hand cover 101 may also be periodicallydisinfected using hand sanitizer or alcohol mist, particularly tofacilitate storage prior to reuse.

Fastener 104 facilitates easy detachment of the wearable hand cover 101from the rest of wearable hand cover assembly 100. While a person hasclip attachment 107 clipped to a pants waistband or other part ofclothing, the person can extend fastener 104 over a wastebasket or otherdisposal container while wearable hand cover 101 is still coupledthereto and release wearable hand cover 101 into the wastebasket orother disposal container without touching any outer surfaces of wearablehand cover 101 by, for example, unsnapping a snap component on fastener104 as illustrated in the fastener 104 embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 2,and 3, or opening a snap hook or slide-bolt snap embodiment of fastener104.

The present invention, therefore, provides hand protection for theworkplace and public areas when interacting with high-traffic surfaces.It facilitates sanitary interaction with certain objects that may besuspected of having bacterial or viral particles on them withoutencouraging the wearer to leave wearable hand cover 101 on for prolongeddurations. This helps minimize the spread of bacterial or viralparticles that may be on certain object surfaces, and in turn thesurface of wearable hand cover 101, by enabling selective, transient,and repetitive use. By retractably storing wearable hand cover 101outside a person's clothing pockets and preferably near the waist area,which is an area less frequently touched, excessive handling to pocketor otherwise store wearable hand cover 101 when taken off is curbed.

The present invention also improves upon traditional medical gloves andrubber gloves that can be difficult to put on and remove, and oftenrequire both hands in the process. Work gloves and others may sometimeshave a looser fit, but are often made of heavier materials that aredifficult to sterilize.

The present invention further improves upon traditional medical andrubber gloves by enabling one-handed operation to quickly andtemporarily protect one hand without subjecting the wearer to directskin contact with possibly contaminated object surfaces.

To encourage widespread use, particularly in combatting the spread ofpandemics such as COVID-19, a cost-effective method of manufacture forwearable hand cover assembly 100 may be implemented in an alternativeembodiment to promote its use on a larger societal scale. For example,wearable hand cover 101 may be a standard sandwich bag, grommet means103 may comprise a strip of duct tape with a slot passing throughgrommet means 103 and cuff 102, and spring-loaded reel assembly 106 maybe a badge reel. A creased edge of the sandwich bag may be flattened bytaping the duct tape over and around first edge 108, helping ensure thatwearable hand cover 101 stays partially open to accept a person's handeasily. Fastener 104 is looped through the slot passing through grommetmeans 103 and cuff portion 102. Cuff portion 102 may be a characteristicof the sandwich bag, or it can be made by folding down an edge portionof the plastic bag (or a glove or mitt) and keeping the fold in place byany suitable means including clips, adhesive, or heat welding.

Various individual components of wearable hand cover assembly 100 may beformed from a variety of materials, including without limitation,Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), vinyl,acrylic, or similar plastics, tubular aluminum, steel, nylon, waterresistant polyester, etc. To the extent any one of the disclosedembodiments and its respective components have been described aspreferably and/or optionally being manufactured with specific or generalmaterials or types of hardware, it is understood that all of the otherdisclosed embodiments and their respective components may preferablyand/or optionally be manufactured with the same specific or generalmaterials or types of hardware, including others not specificallyrecited that a person of ordinary skill in the art understands to havecomparable and appropriate material properties.

The present invention has been described in the context of embodiments,and multiple variations and examples thereof. It is to be understood,however, that other expedients known to those skilled in the art ordisclosed herein may be employed without departing from the spirit ofthe invention.

Any references to the “invention” herein do not and are not intended toidentify or describe aspects or embodiments that are required orotherwise essential to the present invention unless expressly stated assuch.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wearable hand cover assembly, comprising: ahand covering with an open end through which a hand of a wearer mayextend through, the hand covering comprising a cuff portion along anedge of the open end; a reel housing assembly comprising a clipattachment capable of coupling the reel housing assembly to an articleof clothing; a spring biased reel rotatably disposed within the reelhousing assembly; a tether retractably wound on the spring biased reel,the tether having a free end capable of extending outside the reelhousing assembly; and a fastener with a proximal portion and a distalportion, the proximal portion coupled to the free end of the tether, andthe distal portion coupled to the cuff portion of the hand covering,wherein: the open end of the hand covering is biased towards an openedconfiguration; and movement of the hand covering in a direction awayfrom the reel housing assembly is capable of unwinding and extending thetether against bias of the spring to retract the tether.
 2. The wearablehand cover assembly of claim 1, wherein the hand covering is selectedfrom the group consisting of: (A) mitten, (B) plastic bag, and (C) mittwith a thumb stall.
 3. The wearable hand cover assembly of claim 1,wherein the hand covering further comprises a fluid impermeable surface.4. The wearable hand cover assembly of claim 3, wherein the fluidimpermeable surface comprises at least one from the group consisting of:(A) latex, (B) rubber, (C) vinyl, and (D) plastic.
 5. The wearable handcover assembly of claim 1, wherein the fastener is selected from thegroup consisting of: (A) snap hook, and (B) slide-bolt snap.
 6. Thewearable hand cover assembly of claim 1, wherein the distal portion ofthe fastener comprises a plastic strip with a snap component, theplastic strip forming a closed loop when the snap component is in aclosed state.
 7. The wearable hand cover assembly of claim 6, whereinthe cuff portion of the hand covering has an aperture through which theplastic strip passes through and is thereby coupled to the hand coveringwhen the snap component is in a closed state.
 8. The wearable hand coverassembly of claim 7, wherein the aperture is a grommet.
 9. The wearablehand cover assembly of claim 1, wherein the cuff portion is formed byfolding a portion of the hand covering at the open end over and ontoitself and securing the fold with at least one from the group consistingof: (A) clip, (B) adhesive, and (C) heat welding.
 10. The wearable handcover assembly of claim 1, wherein the cuff portion further comprises ahollow interior through which a tubular insert is enclosed.
 11. Thewearable hand cover assembly of claim 1, further comprising a strip ofmaterial that wraps around a top edge of the hand covering such that itis affixed to both an outer surface area of the hand covering and asubstantially corresponding interior surface area of the hand covering,the strip of material overlapping a surface area of the hand coveringthat is intersected by a portion of a creased edge of the hand covering.12. A method for interacting with object surfaces by using a wearablehand cover assembly, comprising: a hand covering with an open endthrough which a hand of a wearer may extend through, the hand coveringcomprising a cuff portion along an edge of the open end; a reel housingassembly comprising a clip attachment capable of coupling the reelhousing assembly to an article of clothing; a spring biased reelrotatably disposed within the reel housing assembly; a tetherretractably wound on the spring biased reel, the tether having a freeend capable of extending outside the reel housing assembly; and afastener with a proximal portion and a distal portion, the proximalportion coupled to the free end of the tether, and the distal portioncoupled to the cuff portion of the hand covering, wherein: the open endof the hand covering is biased towards an opened configuration; andmovement of the hand covering in a direction away from the reel housingassembly is capable of unwinding and extending the tether against biasof the spring to retract the tether, the method comprising: coupling theclip attachment to a user's clothing; inserting a hand of the userthrough the open end of the hand covering without contacting any outersurfaces of the hand covering; extending the user's hand towards and incontact with a surface, whereby the tether unwinds and extends away fromthe reel housing assembly and against bias of the spring to retract thetether; returning the user's hand to a position proximate the clipattachment such that the tether winds onto the spring biased reel; andremoving the user's hand from the hand covering without contacting anyouter surfaces of the hand covering.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising disposing of the hand covering by decoupling the distalportion of the fastener from the cuff portion of the hand coveringwithout contacting any outer surfaces of the hand covering.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising disinfecting the hand covering.15. A wearable hand cover assembly, comprising: a hand covering with anopen end through which a hand of a wearer may extend through, the handcovering comprising a side edge; a reel housing assembly comprising aclip attachment capable of coupling the reel housing assembly to anarticle of clothing; a spring biased reel rotatably disposed within thereel housing assembly; a tether retractably wound on the spring biasedreel, the tether having a free end capable of extending outside the reelhousing assembly; a fastener with a proximal portion and a distalportion, the proximal portion coupled to the free end of the tether, andthe distal portion coupled to the cuff portion of the hand covering; anda strip of material that wraps around a top edge of the hand coveringsuch that it is affixed to both an outer surface area of the handcovering and a substantially corresponding interior surface area of handcovering, the strip of material overlapping a surface area of the handcovering that is intersected by a portion of the side edge, wherein: theopen end of the hand covering is biased towards an opened configuration;and movement of the hand covering in a direction away from the reelhousing assembly is capable of unwinding and extending the tetheragainst bias of the spring to retract the tether.
 16. The wearable handcover assembly of claim 15, wherein the hand covering is selected fromthe group consisting of: (A) mitten, (B) plastic bag, and (C) mitt witha thumb stall.
 17. The wearable hand cover assembly of claim 15 furthercomprising a cuff portion along an edge of the open end of the handcovering.
 18. The wearable hand cover assembly of claim 15, wherein thehand covering further comprises a fluid impermeable surface.
 19. Thewearable hand cover assembly of claim 17, wherein the distal portion ofthe fastener comprises a plastic strip with a snap component, theplastic strip forming a closed loop when the snap component is in aclosed state.
 20. The wearable hand cover assembly of claim 19, whereinthe cuff portion of the hand covering has an aperture through which theplastic strip passes through and is thereby coupled to the hand coveringwhen the snap component is in a closed state.